Tank Upgrade looking for advice!

[jwright]

You guys have helped me get through the first 18 months of my saltwater experience and I am grateful. I have made some mistakes but overall I think I have been pretty successful.

I currently have 125 gal fowlr setup. i'm looking to upgrade this tank somewhere between a 180 and a 240 to accommodate my pals. So I have a couple of questions.

1) Should I go Glass or Acrylic? I know acrylic is half the weight but will it scratch easy? i'm concerned most about this because I have been running the 125 for about 7 years now. It is glass and pretty scratched up. 5.5 years it was freshwater the last 18 months has been salt.

2) I want to be able to reuse the equipment ( cut down on costs) that I have so I am thinking of not getting the tank pre-drilled (more savings). And continuing to use my CPR hob overflow. It is rated at 16 hundred gallons an hour. My question is will this be enough to get water moving through my sump? I have another one that is not by cpr but is single j tube hob I could use that too maybe.

3) Do you know of any good places to purchase a tank online or should I stick with my lfs. I have a couple of really good ones an hour so from my home.


I have a flame angel, a blue ringed angel, 2 banner fish, 2 percula clowns, a gobie the little blue striped one and a basslet, 2 bristle stars, 1 sand sifting star, 5 scarlet hermits, 1 porcelain crab, 1 electric blue hermit, crushed coral sand mixture and 130 lbs of live rock. And a bit of nitrate issue :?

I guess thats my questions for now

Thanks
John

 

[DragonForce]

1. IMO glass. I think acrylic is much more prone to scratching. I also like the way algae cleans off of glass. Benefits of acrylic is that you can get rounded corners on the tank which looks neat and it is really strong. I think glass is the better choice though.

2.If you plan on going to a 240 I would go all out and get predrilled. The CPR might not be the best choice for a system this large. Another benefit of going predrilled(besides the fact you wont have to look at the overflow), is the benefit and potential for much more water movement just from the return which leads to less powerheads in the display which means a better looking tank. So IMO, and I'm sure in many others as well, go with a predrilled, you will be much happier.

3. I would not purchase online tanks, the shipping alone will cost quite a bit. If you want to save time on the hastle of trucking a 240 back to your house you may consider it but I would make the trip and pick out exactly what you want.

 

[melosu58]

Is the new tank still going to be FOWLR. You`ll have to turn angels in to go reef

 

[seaham358]

This is gonna hurt me..... I have to agree with Dragon Force on this...
All kidding aside he has some good points.. and IMO Drilled is the way to go.

 

[jwright]

I found 180 gallon long @ lfs.

I have seen the error that I would be making by continuing to use the cpr overflow that I really wasnt all that fond of to begin with so I did have the tank drilled .

Thanks for the advice that is for sure.

I do have another question my current substrate is mostly crushed coral and sand mix. I am thinking of replacing it entirely with sand. Does anyone have experience with the white play sand that Toys R Us sells for sand boxes? I was wondering if this was silicate free sand. I would then seed it with 20 or 30 lbs of live sand.

For now the tank is going to remain a fowlr iamb not ready for the switch to reef but im getting there.

Thanks
John

 

[cd5]

I have a flame angel

You`ll have to turn angels in to go reef

I thought flame angels where reef safe

 

[melosu58]

You always take a chance. In my opinion they are not reef safe. And in my experience they definitely are not. I had one several years and then he proceeded to eat my brain coral. Just like that after years of not. He had to go. I also had the same thing happen to my keyhole angel. I have a solemn vow now to never get another angel. All dwarf angels are prone to nip at soft fleshy corals. Sorry

 

[Brenden]

Does anyone have experience with the white play sand that Toys R Us sells for sand boxes?

Do the vinegar test and see if it foams.